Siren Song
by Orii15
Summary: This was the part of humanity she had never understood. This love they felt for each other. Certainly, it was endearing in its way, but in the end it only ever seemed to lead them to destruction.


The ocean rose up in frothy waves against the sides of the ship. It was a good day for sailing. Zephyros—the god of the West Wind—was filling the sails of the merchant vessel as it sailed back home after a long journey.

And standing at the ship's wheel was Leander, the helmsman. One who was particularly eager to return home. He was tall and lean with a shock of dark hair and eyes that were as blue as the seas through which he had navigated the boat for the past two years. Certainly Leander loved the sea, he was a skilled sailor, though this was only his second real merchant voyage.

He had been enchanted by the faraway wonders of Alexandria. Now he was back on the water again he longed for the warm sand underfoot, the hot dry days and the scent of unfamiliar spices wafting through the air from a thousand merchant stands in the outdoor market.

But there was something that Leander longed for more than anything he had marveled at in Alexandria. Something that called to him more strongly than the ocean. And this was his wife, Hyacinth. They had been barely married a year when he'd left, and had just found out she was with child. And, oh, such a row they'd had when he had told her he had to leave on the merchant ship for two years.

"It's my job." He'd said softly, trying to soothe her.

She would not be soothed. Perhaps it had something to do with the fact that she was four months pregnant or perhaps it was just her natural spark. Whatever it was, it caused her porcelain cheeks to flush dark red and her grey eyes to could over with anger. "It's your job!" she'd repeated angrily. "This is your job when there are dozens of other ships with shorter routes that would get you home to me sooner!"

"Certainly." He'd said trying not to let his frustration catch up with him and enter his voice. "Certainly, there are ships with shorter routes that I could work for, Hyacinth. But they pay less. And you know that people say Poseidon cursed Argus's ship. Pirates have attacked him three times in as many years. I've been given this opportunity to sail on an important vessel. This could make us rich, Hyacinth."

"I don't want to be rich." She'd murmured. "I want you. I want you to stay with me."

"I would dearly love to stay with you, my flower." He'd whispered "But what would we live on?" His eyes fell on her stomach, noticeably swollen now from the child growing inside her. "How would we raise a child, a poor couple with barely a roof over our heads?"

"The gods will provide for us." She'd said, "We've always been faithful to them. They've blessed us."

"Then maybe the gods are the ones who provided this opportunity to us. We can't refuse the gifts providence offers us."

"If this is a gift," she'd said, "then why do I feel as if I'll never see you again, Leander?"

He smiled comfortingly at her and leaned in to press his lips softly against hers. "Two years is a long time." He'd said. "But it's not forever. I'll see you again before you know it, and we'll have a good life to live together."

She'd regarded him silently for a moment and then leaned back in, closing the distance between them again in a kiss. This time a long one. He felt her embrace holding him tightly to her, trying to get her two years worth out of this one last kiss. When they finally broke apart, gasping for breath she'd put a hand to her stomach and said, "What will I name our child?"

"Theodore." He'd said. "or Theodora."

"Gift of the gods."

"Isn't it?"

Leander smiled. Finally he was almost back. He wondered for the millionth time what their child looked like. If it was a boy or a girl. What would it think of the father it hadn't known for these first few months of life?

"What's that?" came a shout from one of the sailors, breaking Leander out of his reverie.

"Land!"

"What island is that?" asked Leander looking out to the green isle they were approaching.

Dennis the captain, a lean man with straw colored hair, frowned at the isle. "I don't know." He said "It's probably not inhabited anyways, but we're low on water. We're only a few weeks from home anyways, let's make port there for a few days before setting off again."

"A few days?" said Leander

Dennis laughed, "Eager to be home, too, are you?"

Leander nodded.

"Still we need water." Said Dennis. "Sail around the shore to see if there's a place without so many beastly rocks."

Leander nodded and regretfully did as he was told as Dennis shouted instructions to the rest of the crew. He watched the shore of the island carefully. There were several outcroppings of sharp lethal looking rocks all around the perimeter as far as he could see. He wistfully hoped they wouldn't be able to find a spot to land, though he knew that Dennis wasn't above settling the ship a little ways out to sea and making them take the smaller boats to get to shore.

A sharp sweet noise coming from somewhere on the island caught Leander by surprise. It was music—singing. A soft clear voice, the most beautiful he'd ever heard. The island was inhabited then.

The other sailors heard the voice too, soon joined by another in sweet mellifluous harmonies. They gazed eagerly at the still rocky shores laughing to each other that the local women of the island knew they were coming at least. And hopefully, they looked as beautiful as they sounded.

Leander tried to ignore them. He didn't care if the local women looked like Aphrodite herself, he wanted to go home to Hyacinth. He tried to concentrate on his job as the voices rose and three more joined. The song was indescribably beautiful; with words sung in a soothing, sweet language Leander didn't understand.

Then the singers came into sight. Leander's breath caught in his throat. Five women were perched on the rocks up ahead. They were still too far away to be seen clearly but even from where he was he knew that they were in fact beautiful.

One figure looked particularly familiar to him, he squinted at it trying to get a better look. Hyacinth? Certainly it looked remarkably like his young wife. But how? Had Dennis been mistaken? Was this small outcropping of land actually nearer to Athens then they had thought? The singing continued. Leander felt strangely distracted, as if his brain had been clouded over by a shimmering fog of song.

The girl must have been Hyacinth. He recognized her now, her honey colored hair blowing around her face. She had grown it longer since he'd left. it was now down to the small of her back. Her sweet smile and playful grey eyes were the same, looking only at him as she hopped from rock to rock trying to catch the ship.

"Hyacinth!" shouted Leander. His voice was not the only one shouting. He could hear the other men, some were whistling at the beautiful girls and others were calling out names too.

He had eyes now only for his wife. Two years, and he had forgotten how beautiful she was. How her smile made his heart leap in his chest. How her golden hair shone when it caught the sun. And how stunning her voice was.

Without realizing what he was doing, Leander had turned the ship towards the island. No one told him not to, the whole crew of the ship was gathered at the side staring at the beautiful maidens on the rocks.

The rocks. They caught the bottom of the ship and tore at the wooden hull. Leander didn't try to turn the ship away even when it smashed into a large boulder and began to take on large quantities of water.

But the closer he got to Hyacinth the less he recognized her. Something was different about her face, the color of her eyes, the way she smiled at him. Finally, the ship's deck slippery with water, he caught a good look at her. They were very close now, if the water hadn't still been unusually deep even so near the island he could have jumped in and walked right over to her.

And then something changed in Hyacinth's face. Leander gasped. This was not his wife at all. Her hands elongated into vicious claws, wings sprouted from her back and her legs thinned and stretched. Her feet ,too, became talons. Her hair more feathery in appearance.

Then, in the moment before he fell into the treacherous waters, Leander understood everything.

On the rocks, the Siren called Leucosia smirked watching the sailors make fools of themselves. Some jumped into the water and drowned trying to reach her. Others met their fate on the rocks. She was most interested in the dark haired one who had been watching her so carefully. Of late she had found it amusing to give herself the appearance of a lover to one of the sailors on a ship.

She watched the man's eyes grow wide as he struggled to keep his head above the water. This was the part of humanity she had never understood. The love they felt for each other. Certainly she had seen a few handsome men in her time, but really they were foolish to hold such devotion to each other. Look at where it got them. She smiled a horrible, beautiful smile at Leander as he went down below the waters for the last time. Well, wasn't it just as they said—the course of true love never did run smooth.


End file.
